Trash can and hose rack



J. R. WALTERS TRASH CAN AND HOSE RACK Nov. 29, 1966 Filed March 21, 1966 Wm mm James R. Wa/fers INVENTOR.

BY M

WWW 3m United States Patent 3,288,306 TRASH CAN AND HOSE RACK James R. Walters, 708 Woodward Lane, Lexington, Ky. Filed Mar. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 535,967 8 Claims. (Cl. 211-71) This invention relates to a novel and useful trash can and hose rack and more specifically to, a rack including a base for support from the ground and an upstanding standard whose lower end is supported from the base and which includes means above its lower end adapted to support a plurality of trash cans in elevated positions above the base. In addition, the trash can and hose rack of the instant invention includes a rotatably supported hose reel upon which a length of garden hose or the like may be wound and the rack further includes a suitable mud scraping member which may be utilized to scrape mud from the bottom of shoes and boots.

The base of the trash can and hose rack is constructed of dense material and is adapted to be supported from any suitable generally horizontal support surface such as the ground adjacent the rear door of a dwelling or in any other location in which it is convenient to store garbage or trash cans.- The base has a large plan area and is of sufficient thickness and strength to maintain the standard supported therefrom in an upright position even though one or more heavy trash or garbage cans are supported from the standard in an unbalanced manner.

The trash can and hose rack of the instant invention is adapted specifically for use in conjunction with trash cans of the type including a handle on at least one sidethereof adjacent the top of the can and the base of the rack is constructed of concrete or other cementitious material and provided with novel reinforcing rod means to which an anchor for the standard of the rack is fixedly secured, the anchor projecting slightly above the upper surface of the base and adapted to have the lower end of the standard removably telescoped thereover.

The main object of this invention is to provide a novel I trash can and hose rack which will be capable of stationarily supporting one or more heavily laden trash cans in an elevated position above a desired support surface upon which the rack is disposed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a trash can and hose rack in accordance with the immediately preceding object and including a heavy base having a large plan area from which the standard of the rack is supported whereby one or more heavily laden cans supported from the rack will be removably secured in elevated position above the horizontal surface upon which the base rests in a manner such that the cans and/or the rack will not tip over.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a trash can rack in accordance with the preceding objects and including a rotatably supported hose reel upon which a length of garden hose may be wound and stored in an unobtrusive manner.

A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein is to provide a trash can and hose rack which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to provide a device that will be economically feasible, long lasting and relatively troublefree in operation.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the trash can and hose rack of the instant invention illustrated supporting two conventional trash cans, one of which cans is shown 3,288,306 Patented Nov. 29, 1966 in phantom lines and the other of which cans is shown in solid lines; and

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 2--2 of FIGURE 1.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings the numeral 10 generally designates the trash can and hose rack of the instant invention which may be seen to best advantage inFIGURE 1 of the drawings as including a base generally referred to by the reference numeral 12 and an upright standard generally referred to by the reference numeral 14.

The base 12 comprises a generally rectangular body 14 constructed of cementitious material and which may be formed by conventional casting methods. The body 16 includes four corner portions 18, 20, 22 and 24 and has embedded therein a pair of generally semicircular reinforcing rods 26 and 28. The reinforcing rod 26 has its opposite end portions disposed in the corner portions 18 and 24 and the opposite ends of the reinforcing rod 28 has its opposite end portions disposed in the corner portions 20 and 22. The central portions of the reinforcing rods 26 and 28, centrally intermediate their opposite ends, are slightly spaced apart in the central portion of the body 16 and have secured therebetween the lower end portion of a short upright anchor post 30. The anchor post 30 is secured between the reinforcing rods 26 and 28 in any convenient manner such as by welding 32 and its upper end projects above the upper surface 34 of the body 16.

The anchor post 30 is non-circular in cross-section and the standard 14 is tubular and includes at least a hollow ably and snugly telescoped thereover with the lower end of the standard 14 abutting against the upper surface 34 of the body 16 disposed immediately adjacent the anchor post 30. The lower end portion 32 of the standard 14 is provided with areadily accessible setscrew 36 and the latter is utilized to removably secure the standard 14 to the post 30 in a manner which is believed to be obvious.

The standard 14 includes a lower laterally directed arm 38 which is secured thereto in any convenient manner and the outer end of the arm 38 has an upstanding flange 40 secured thereto which is adapted to be utilized as a foot scraper for the purpose of scraping mud from the bottom of shoes and/ or boots and the like.

Adjacent the upper end of the standard 14 is provided a pair of opposite side J-shaped hooks 42 which are secured to the standard 14 in any convenient manner, project outwardly from the standard, and open toward the latter. In addition, the standard 14, at an elevation between the hooks 42 and the arm 38, includes a pair of opposite side laterally outwardly projecting arms 44 which are secured to the standard 14 in any convenient manner and which have secured to their outer ends trash can body abutment members 46.

A pair of trash cans 48 including pivoted handles 50 adjacent their upper ends are supported vfrom the rack 10 .by means of the handles 50 which are engaged with the corresponding hooks 42. The hooks 42 support the weight of the cans 48 from the sides thereof adjacent the standard 14 and accordingly, the lower ends of the cans 48 tend to swing toward the standard 14. However, the lower ends of the cans 48 abut the abutment members 46, the latter being contoured so as to conform to the shape of the lower end portions of the cans to be supported from the rack 10, and are therefore maintained in spaced relation outwardly of the standard 14.

Also supported from the standard 14 intermediate the hooks 42 and the arms 44 is a generally circular mounting plate 54 provided with a centrally disposed threaded aperture 56. A hose reel assembly generally referred to by the reference numeral 58 is provided and includes a first circular end wall 60 and a second annular end wall 62. The circular end wall 60 has a central aperture 64 formed therethrough and a threaded shank type fastener 66 is utilized to rotatably support the end wall 60 from the plate 54 in a manner which is believed to be obvious. Further, the end walls 60 and 62 are interconnected by means of a plurality of circumferentially spaced and generally axially extending support rods 68 whose opposite ends are secured to corresponding portions of the end walls 60 and 62. Further, the hose reel assembly 58 includes a generally axially projecting and eccentrically positioned handle 70 which is carried by the end wall 62 and which may be utilized to manually rotate the hose reel assembly in order to wind the garden hose 72 thereon.

From the foregoing it may be seen that the rack is of simple construction and that its standard 14 may be readily removed from the anchor post 30 but that when it is secured to the latter the base 12 provides ample support for the standard 14 to prevent the latter from tipping over even though it should be utilized to support one or more heavily laden trash cans. Further, inasmuch as the anchor post 30 is rigidly secured to the reinforcing rods 26 and 28 by means of the welding 32 and the reinforc ing rods 26 and 28 curve from the central portion of the body 16 to the four corner portions 18, 20, 22 and 24 of the body 16, any lateral forces directed to the upper end of the standard 14 will be transmitted downwardly through the lower end of the standard 14 to the post 30 and therefrom evenly distributed throughout the base 16 even to the four corner portions 18, 20, 22 and 24 thereof.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. For use as a stable platform for supporting the lower end of a heavily laden standard, a base assembly comprising a heavy generally panel-like body defining a plurality of generally equally spaced predetermined points about its peripheral edge portion, rigid reinforcing members embedded in said base and extending from a generally centrally disposed center area of said base to positions at least closely adjacent said predetermined points, an upstanding anchor post having its lower end embedded in said base and its upper end projecting upwardly there from, the lower end of said anchor post being rigidly secured to the portions of said reinforcing members disposed in said central area, and the upper end of said anchor post projecting above said base being adapted to have the lower end of said standard rigidly fastened thereto, I

2. In combination with a trash can to be supported stationarily in elevated position above a support surface, a trash can rack, said rack including a weighted base of large plan area adapted to rest upon a supporting surface, an upright standard, the lower end of said standard being rigidly supported from a central portion of said base with said standard projecting upwardly therefrom, a trash can support member projecting laterally outwardly of one side of an upper portion of said standard, a handle carried by an upper portion of one side of said can and removably engaged with said support member for support of the upper end of said can from said support member, and laterally outwardly projecting abutment means projecting outwardly of said one side of said standard a spaced distance below said support member and including outwardly facing abutment surface means on its free end facing outwardly of said one side of said standard and embracingly and abutt-ingly engaged with and conforming to the contour of the lower end portion of said can facing said one side of said standard.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said standard includes a laterally outwardly projecting arm disposed below said abutment means and having an elongated transversely extending generally horizontally disposed scraping member on it outer end portion adapted to be utilized to scrape mud or the like from the undersurfaces of shoes.

4. The combination of claim 2 wherein said standard includes an additional trash can support member and additional abutment means projecting laterally outwardly of the opposite side of said standard remote from said one side thereof and generally horizontally aligned with the first-mentioned support member and abutment means.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said standard includes a laterally outwardly projecting arm disposed .below said abutment means and having an elongated transversely extending generally horizontally disposed scraping member on its outer end portion adapted to be utilized to scrape mud or the like from the undersurfaces of shoes.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said arm projects outwardly of said standard in a direction disposed at generally right angles relative to a vertical plane containing said trash can support members.

7. The combination of claim 6 wherein said standard includes, at an elevation between said support means and said abutment means, a hose reel journalled from said standard for rotation about a generally horizontally disposed axis extending generally in said direction.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said hose reel is disposed on the side of said standard remote from said arm.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,929,512 3/1960 McDougle 21 l71 3,173,547 3/1965 Olissandratos 211-71 3,219,195 11/1965 Mize 211-71 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. FOR USE AS A STABLE PLATFORM FOR SUPPORTING THE LOWER END OF A HEAVILY LADEN STANDARD, A BASE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A HEAVY GENERALLY PANEL-LIKE BODY DEFINING A PLURALITY OF GENERALLY EQUALLY SPACED PREDETERMINED POINTS ABOUT ITS PERIPHERAL EDGE PORTION, RIGID REINFORCING MEMBERS EMBEDDED IN SAID BASE AND EXTENDING FROM A GENERALLY CENTRALLY DISPOSED CENTER OF SAID BASE TO POSITIONS AT LEAST CLOSELY ADJACENT SAID PREDETERMINED POINTS, AN UPSTANDING ANCHOR POST HAVING ITS LOWER END EMBEDDED IN SAID BASE AND ITS UPPER END PROJECTING UPWARDLY THEREFROM, THE LOWER END OF SAID ANCHOR POST BEING RIGIDLY SECURED TO THE PORTIONS OF SAID REINFORCING MEMBERS DISPOSED IN SAID CENTRAL AREA, AND THE UPPER END OF SAID ANCHOR POST PROJECTING ABOVE SAID BASE BEING ADAPTED TO HAVE THE LOWER END OF SAID STANDARD RIGIDLY FASTENED THERETO. 